HS50 available from these sources.

As you can see from the image below there still isn’t a great deal of places here in NZ holding HS50’s and this includes genuine Fuji stockists. My local Fuji dealer still doesn’t have one and from previous conversations may be unlikely to get one.

I have been communicating with HS50 owners all over the world for some time now since its release and the variation in output from various owners is perturbing to say the least. One comment all owners have reported is the speed is considerably faster operationally with this camera in comparison to the earlier HS models. Thats good news. However almost all owners have said they have struggled at some point to get really good image quality from their cameras. Its difficult to point to any one thing in this regard, but certainly the majority of images I have seen with the HS50 are no better and often seem worse than my HS20. Coupled to this is the loss of a truly closeup macro ability ( one of Fuji cameras real strengths) tends to make me think that the same has happened to the HS50 as did the HS10.

It seems a least at this point that Fuji have opted for a new design and should they stay the course with this models for future releases we will in turn see improvements in the areas that are showing variable performance.

I would like to hear from current HS50 owners as to how they have been progressing with their HS50’s both good or bad. Just leave a comment or you can email me ( the address is on the Links page). Feel free to include any comment you wish and images would also help.

Its coming up time for me to finally update and as yet I remain to be convinced the HS50 is the camera of choice. My preference is for a Fuji as I would, like many other Fuji owners, find it very hard to give up the manual lens. Its just too damn good to overlook.

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2 thoughts on “HS50 available from these sources.”

I would strongly suggest the X-S1 over an HS camera anyday, the larger sensor pays huge dividends and the build is sublime. Now that X-S1 has been discontinued it is available for peanuts and even less refurbished (at least it is here in theUK-fuji refurbished models are currently just £300!) add to this the awesome EVF, and it is a great solution. I used to have an HS20, and the difference is huge. The only caveat with X-S1 is to make sure you get a mid 2012 onward built camera, as it will have the updated sensor and no lens wobble or creep. Give it a go, I promise you won’t regret it!

And theres the rub. Here in NZ a new XS1 is still priced around $850.00 or about 2.5 times the UK price. Its not a big seller here and never was so most “new” models are the earlier faulty generation that Fuji no longer repairs, so essentially you are buying a lemon.

To show how much Fuji thinks of its customers here we wont have the HS50 officially announced until just before Xmas. We are one full year behind the delivery to market here, and that’s a huge mark against Fuji.

No matter how good the HS50 is theres no way I would buy one now. The only outlets in NZ that carry the HS50 is a private company and parallel importing companies.

As of todays date the cheapest new XS1 available here is $849.00 plus delivery, do Fuji really think we are that stupid?

I do agree about the quality of build in general and the benefit of the larger sensor, pity that they couldnt get it right and learn to treat their customers better.